Author: Mike Hassur
Well, another memorable Triple-By-Pass in the books. We had a good group (Leon, Mike S, Rob, John, Les, Dwaine, Mark, Nick, and me). We arrived at Cayuse Pass (our starting point) at 6:00 AM to find it misting. There were possible thunderstorms in the forecast for east of the mountains, so the mist made us a little nervous. We were on the road by 6:20 AM heading toward Chinook Pass. Almost immediately, we were out of the mist; and the roads were dry. We hit patches of ground fog on the way up and saw some snow as we neared the summit of Chinook.
As soon as we crested Chinook Pass, we hit sunshine. The descent down the east side of the pass was beautiful with sunshine and intermittent cloud banks (see the video of this descent at http://youtu.be/uC53jjTdprc ). Unfortunately, my GoPro camera mounting broke about 12 miles into this descent which spelled the end of my video efforts (disappointing because I was looking forward to filming the descent on the west side of White Pass).
Our group easily stayed together on the climb of Chinook Pass (west side) and the descent of Chinook’s east side. Our first “re-supply” stop was supposed to be at Whistlin’ Jack’s Lodge which is about 25 miles east of Chinook Pass on Hwy 410. Unfortunately, some of the bladders in our group
didn’t make it. After the stop at Whistlin’ Jacks (where Rob Critchfield, who had gotten a late start, caught up with us), we continued east on Hwy 410 toward the junction with Hwy 12 which would take us to White Pass. Rob, who is training for the Lotoja 2013 bike race, led much of the way. It was a little downhill and the wind was behind us, but it was still a struggle to keep up (Rob was going 27-29 mph for this entire stretch).
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| Unscheduled pit stop |
After turning onto Hwy 12 (at about mile 50), we found ourselves heading into the wind as we headed toward White Pass. After about 17 miles on Hwy 12, we arrived at Trout Lodge (our second “re-supply” stop of the trip. We refilled our water bottles stocked up on food and headed out on the final 21 miles up to White Pass. Somewhere in this stretch we lost Nick. Mark stayed with the group for most of the climb – losing contact not far from the top. We stopped at White Pass for a
final refill of water bottles and food. After a short rest, we descended the west side of White Pass, turned right on Hwy 123 and headed toward our final climb of the day up the south side of CayusePass (Mark stayed at White Pass until Nick arrived so that the two of them could support one another to the finish).
Everyone in our group seemed pretty strong going up Cayuse Pass – EXCEPT ME. I bonked and enjoyed cramping on the way up. Once finished, the group agreed that it had been a really good ride (the weather was hot but sunny); and, in spite of my inauspicious ascent of Cayuse Pass, I had to agree.
To see the photos associated with ride, go to the following URL: https://picasaweb.google.com/103821724300588557330/2013_06_30PuyallupCyclopathTripleByPassRide#slideshow/5895523107581312482 .
I'd like to share the memory of an event that occurred while we were on the 25-30 mph pace line breakaway with Rob. We came upon a deer on the side of the road and next thing you know it was prancing next to us. It might have been his competitive nature but next thing you know Les was racing the deer who was hopping 20-30 feet at a time. Or it could have been the deer trying to race Les! I couldn't stop laughing watching this play out.
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